BILL NUMBER: SB 569 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 28, 1999
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 27, 1999
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 5, 1999
INTRODUCED BY Senator Alarcon
FEBRUARY 23, 1999
An act to add and repeal Chapter 9.5 (commencing with
Section 19820) to of Part 2 of Division
10 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to disabled
persons, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 569, as amended, Alarcon. Employment of persons with
disabilities.
Existing law creates various employment programs for persons with
disabilities under the jurisdiction of the Department of
Rehabilitation.
This bill would require establish a 3-year
pilot program under which the department would be required
to allocate funds to a private, nonprofit organization in Los
Angeles County that has demonstrated the ability to provide
assessment and vocational services to disabled clients for over a
period of at least 50 years, for operation of an employment program
for persons with disabilities meeting specified requirements.
This bill would appropriate $115,000 from the General Fund to the
department for allocation for startup costs and first-year
implementation of the program.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 19820) is added to
Part 2 of Division 10 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
CHAPTER 9.5. PREEMPLOYMENT PILOT PROGRAM FOR
PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
19820. (a) The department shall allocate funding pursuant to this
chapter to a private, nonprofit organization in Los Angeles County
that has demonstrated the ability to provide assessment and
vocational services to disabled clients for over a period of at least
50 years in order to establish an a pilot
employment program for adults with developmental, physical, and
emotional disabilities who are eligible for Department of
Rehabilitation services but who are currently unable to receive those
services. Regional center clients shall not be eligible for the
pilot project.
(b) The program shall serve adults with one or more disabilities
who express a desire to increase their daily living skills to a level
that will enable them to obtain community-based employment and who
can benefit from a structured program outside their home environment.
(c) The pilot program shall operate for a period of three years.
(d) The purpose of this pilot program shall be to test whether
additional expenditures of state funds on rehabilitation services for
clients, who would otherwise be unable to receive services from the
Department of Rehabilitation due to funding limitations, will result
in increases in employment, earnings, and self-sufficiency. The
pilot program will be considered a success if it can be shown that
its clients reduce their reliance on other governmental programs so
that demonstrated savings in these other programs are sufficient to
offset the cost of the rehabilitation services.
19821. (a) The two primary components of the program established
pursuant to this chapter shall be prevocational training and
preemployment preparation. A certified vocational evaluator and a
rehabilitation counselor, in consultation with the client, family
members, or advocates shall determine the component into which a
client shall enter the program.
(b) Clients who are assessed as having adequate daily living
skills or who satisfactorily complete this component shall, if
interested in community-based employment, receive prevocational
training. Clients who successfully complete the prevocational
component shall be eligible to receive preemployment preparation
training. Clients in the preemployment preparation component shall
be assisted in formulating and achieving a vocational action plan, as
well as obtaining the vocational skills necessary for its
achievement.
SEC. 2.
19822. (a) The organization operating the pilot program under
this chapter shall conduct an evaluation of its implementation and of
the outcomes achieved. The evaluation shall report on the
characteristics of the pilot program's participants, including their
age, sex, ethnicity, and nature of disability. The evaluation shall
document the procedures to select clients, the nature, cost, and
duration of services received during pilot program participation, and
the extent and nature of other public and private services used by
the clients before, during, and after program participation. The
evaluation shall, to the extent possible, provide estimates of the
overall average cost of the program, the average cost of governmental
services used prior to program participation, and the average cost
of services after program participation, in order to determine
whether participation in the pilot program resulted in any reduction
in reliance on publicly funded services.
(b) The organization operating the pilot program shall submit the
evaluation to the department no later than December 31, 2002.
SEC. 2. This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2003, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2003, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 3. There is hereby appropriated the sum of one hundred
fifteen thousand dollars ($115,000) from the General Fund to the
Department of Rehabilitation for allocation for startup costs and
first-year implementation of Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section
19820) of Part 2 of Division 10 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.